NEW DELHI: Around 98 per cent attendance was recorded in the CBSE board exams held in violence-hit northeast Delhi on Monday. Police personnel on duty handed out roses to the examinees to put them at ease. Class 12 and 10 students had their Physics and Music papers on Monday.
“A total of 2,888 students were to appear for the class 12 exam, of which 2,837 sat for the paper today, registering 98.2 per cent attendance,” a senior CBSE official said.
On Sunday, the Central Board of Secondary Examination said any further delay may hamper chances of students in securing admission to professional courses such as medical and engineering, though it is ready to conduct fresh exams for students who are currently unable to appear.
Though no new incidents of violence was reported in northeast Delhi on Monday, a fear of the unknown, coupled with exam stress, gripped the examinees as they arrived at their designated centres.
The exams were conducted amid heavy security deployment. Paramilitary forces were deployed at exam centres in Jaffrabad, which was majorly affected by the violence. The examinations also went off peacefully at Gokulpuri, Maujpur, Karawal Nagar and other areas.
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Senior police officers were seen offering roses to examinees at the Khazuri Khas government school. Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ashok Kumar said, “The purpose of giving roses to examinees is to increase their self-confidence and remove fear from their minds.”
Sandeep, who came to write the exam at the Sarvodaya School in Gokulpuri, said, “The last week was very stressful. We could neither go to our tuition classes nor study at home.”Nutan, another board examinee, said, “Rioters set fire to many shops on our street and the memories of violence and arson continue to haunt us.”